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comments:

·I had to watch MSG last night. Homers comparable to Toronto. Every last loving grace was extended.

·Apparently nobody ever scored on Brodeur, every Devils penalty was the result of a non-call seconds earlier, the Devils are better dressers than Pittsburgh, the NJ crowd was electric, and the Devils, as compared to the Penguins, really know how to satisfy a woman. Just ask their color guy.

@johnny wrath: You are one salty dude. Every post I read from you makes me want to jump off a bridge because life is apparently not worth living.

Regardless, my opinion for tonight is to play the Malkin line vs. the Kovalchuk line. Try to keep the puck away from them. Our third and fourth line just can't do enough to consistently stop him, I don't think. Especially those two lines in the current configuration.

The second line wouldn't be a bad choice either, but I want them to focus on scoring and not on stopping Ilya. Malkin always worries about scoring, regardless of his defensive duties.

(That is not an insult either, I'm just saying he can play good defense, and as soon as he gets the puck he is full speed after a goal. I love that about him.)

With Steve Tello gone from FSN, hopefully Lange will relocate to the TV booth. Those Two That Shall Remain Nameless are terrible.

Let Kovalchuk shoot the puck. He'll hit the net, like, five times, he'll score once and it won't matter because once the game is on the line, he'll close up shop and crap his pants. Hell of a goalscorer, when the game ISN'T on the line.

The Pens owe Atlanta a thrashing in return for the crappy ending that happened last game.

the anti-errey/stiegy sentiments are completely lame. I get the lange-crush that people have and i respect him as an announcer, but give up the ghost and enjoy the game. jesus. Errey is absolutely hilarious and there is a definite need for a solid amount of pens fans to get the sticks out of their collective asses regarding the FSN crew.

johnny wrath....you mean the FSN New York crew, not MSG? Chico Resch and the chubbier guy (i can't for the life of me remember his name, but he's on nhl:onthefly sometimes) aren't that bad. people have this misinformation that talking more about the home team and what they need to win the game is considered by a homer. IT'S THE HOME TEAM'S BROADCAST! The team was acknowledged/talked glowingly of a lot by the guys, specifically Malkin, Letang, Conklin, and talked about staal's need to compete better for the pens to be successful. Having CI, i get to watch a lot of announcers and, while Resch can be kind of annoying, last night's game is definitely not one where i would've labeled the FSNNY crew as homers.

p.s. the trib is saying that Sabourin is the probable starter--if that means anything.

steigy has a knack for jinxing shit so its easy to jump on him for it. and its unacceptable for them to ignore penalties getting called, that happens a fair amount. but overall id still take them over any other announcing team ive been exposed to in the past three seasons. due to their outstanding work rate, long strides, long reaches, and cobras, they are able to run laps around the douchenozzles at versus

Steigy is a poor play-by-play guy, and since the game is on TV, should probably tone down his calls. And he has to work on reading jersey numbers...

I don't mind Errey too much, the problem is we get too much of him. He tries to cover up Steigy's mistakes, so he talks too much. He knows the game well, but it seems that FSN is telling him to ease off so as to not frighten off new viewers, so his comments get dumbed down every game.

canaan and johnny wrath: Mike Emrick has the p-b-p and Chico Resch is the color man for Devils games on FSN New York. In addition to having one of the worst toupees in the world of talkingheadsportsguys, Chico is an unrepentant homer. His head is so far up Marty's ass that ... I can't even finish the metaphor I'm so disgusted (spit). Every shot into Marty's glove or body (and let's not kid ourselves, if the boys were picking corners instead of crest last night, Marty = Xmas tree), was met with "ohhhh, and Marty was lightning fast to get to that" or some other sycophantic drivel. I had to IV fluids last night he was making me hurl so bad. Mike used to make me sick too, but I have either gotten used to him or he has toned it down to balance out Chico. He's still pretty sanctimonious, but he does know his hockey and at least attempts to talk about/name the other team's players. I think I even heard him say that the replay on a Devil non-call in the third "probably looked like a homer re-play." Even if he qualified it by saying "but it was a bad angle," props to him for acknowledging it.

Anyway, here's to revengeblog for Recchi. 20 points in 23 games post-waivers, eh? Pick a film:

chris, i know who the regular devils/fsnny crews are but that's not who was there last night. doc emrick had nothing to do with that game last night. Resch was honestly very bearable last night. my point was not to say resch was a good announcer, but to merely say that to say that they (the fsnny crew last night) were homers was a stretch. sorry if i wasn't clearer about my comments. I absolutely agree that the brodeur-fancying is sickening, but i suppose the same could be said about crosby-fancying at times (as well as any other star player in re:their announcers). its a pointless thing to get upset about is all.

I like Errey. I think he does a decent job. I can see how some people might not like him, but I enjoy the fact that he gets into the game, he offers some good insight, and he doesn't seem to take himself too seriously. I think he's especially good when they put him down on the benches.

Steigy's OK...he's just got some quirky parts of his broadcast that can get annoying because they seem forced (the whole "Tyler the Tiger" thing...come on). But he's not bad, either.

Canaan is right. If I had to listen to Chico Resch every night, I'd be breaking out the business end of the Civil War bayonette and introducing it to my right ear. I remember last year when Cam Janssen took the cheap shot at Kaberle from Toronto, and Resch was going so far out of his way to defend Janssen, even the play-by-play guy was getting embarrassed.

Canaan: First about Lange: he isn't as good as he used to be, by any means. I don't have a lange-crush, but his 80% is better than most 100%.

Steiggy: Steiggy is really bad at p-b-p. I'm not saying i could do better, but he's supposed to be a pro and he's really not up to par. Maybe i nit-pick because i'm not a big fan of his, but he is slow on the play, does not call the action accurately, and is a general homer, which results in alot of whining.

Lange is a homer, no doubt. but first and foremost, i think he calls the game better, more accurately, and respects the opponent and the referees. I don't think that Steiggy's rose colored glasses allow him to do that.

Errey: I don't mind Errey in the booth. He does know the game and is pretty funny. I'd like to see what he could do without having to placate Steiggy.

I'm not trying to pick a fight. i just figured instead of saying "Steiggy/Errey suck" i would atleast say why i don't like them(or Steiggy).

canaan: didn't mean to imply anything at you - i thought someone above had asked. Are you sure it wasn't Doc? I DVRd it and watched late with the sound way down for most of it, but I turned it up for penalties/scraps and I thought it was Doc. I checked the video recap on the NJD site, but it has the Errey and Steigy audio feed. And that segment with Chico eating hot dogs, pizza and crap in "the Rock" (as in maximum security?) was ridiculous.

Sorry for the confusion. But my Chico comments stand either way! Ha ha.

Do Kovy and Hossa play on the same line, or does Hossa still play with those rookies?

When I was thinking of line and D match-ups, I wasn't thinking in terms of Orps playing LW. Perhaps I should. It used to work in DC for Ron Wilson, but it wasn't as strict as permanent LW. He just played a trap with 3 D-men.

My strategy to neutralize any super-dangerous forward would involve Ruutu shadowing them, and matching Orpik in the D-zone.

It would be like the old days when we'd play NJ. Jarome Jagr comes over the boards, McKay and Pandolfo jump on right after him. If the team is up to speed, you can usually get the matchup on the fly before anything sinister happens. Or, we could have a 2 on 0 ruined by a bench minor...

anyone who thinks "steigy" is a solid announcer should put down the kool-aid. why do you think the Pens promos STILL HAVE Mike Lange as the voiceover?! They get rid of the audio track for awesome Pens goals and insert the radio call! You never hear Steigy on promos or commercials because the only product he would make me buy would be ear plugs or old granddad whiskey.

He ALWAYS gets jersey numbers wrong. He NEVER tells you when a penalty is taken and if he does he guesses the wrong team. Half the time he's talking about some asinine fact they print out for him from the press guide when there's a goal scored (the penguins are 10-0 when Mike Lange takes a dump in my mouth...) while the other half he's got the wrong player pegged.

I propose that from now on Pensblog should keep a running count of how often Steigy attributes a goal to the wrong player (about 40% of the time) or says that the wrong team got a penalty (which is like, 90% of the time). I bet the figures at seasons-end would be staggering

how many pbp guys make the transition from the color side???? steigy good as a color guy, meh as a pbp'er.....

lange lost it a few years back when the pens were horrible....lange and olczyk/errey just told stories & invented new terms like: neshing & subway samich of the game....if only lange could go back to the way he calls games on tv as if he were on radio, without all that jackin' around crap, just like he did in the pens heyday

As a Center Ice customer, I'd much rather listen to our guys than some of these humps in other markets. I don't mind Doc (& Chico) so much, although I can't believe they were so incredulous over that hooking call. (I mean, it was buried in our guy's gut... what more do you want?) The Capitals guys are the worst.

You have to accept that each market's announcing team is going to have some homerism, but they have to be able to call a spade a spade. I don't mind enthusiasm for their team, but don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining. It drives me insane when they overlook or minimize the obvious when it doesn't benefit their team.

I also have Center Ice and I listed to a lot of different broadcasters as well as Paul and Bob. Paul and Bob are far from being the worst. They arn't going to win any awards but I enjoy listening to them. Mostly to Bob because sometimes he is really really odd and I like that. After all, how many other color guys use the term "pickle spear"? :) I also like them because they are a little on the "homer" side. They are the home team's annoucers, they should be. But I also want them to show respect for the players on other teams that warrant it. Paul does have some odd choices on that front, I will admit that. But at least they don't whine like the fans in the F section when a call doesn't go the Pens way. The Lightning Bobby "The Chief" Taylor does that and I can't stand it. He is supposed to support the team but also be a professional broadcaster. Babbling in disbelief at a bad call does not make for a professional. Hell, I can do that. Anyone want to give me some money for it? Didn't thing so.

I 100% agree with bluzdude. I have Center Ice and look forward to the possibility of getting to hear Steigy and Errey. Most of the time if it is an away game its the other team's PBP but some nights I get a sweet surprise.

Steiggy and Errey aren't as bad as some make them out to be but they're not above average in anyway. Any time the Pens are on TSN or CBC, I make sure to tune into that broadcast. Even when we're playing the Rags, Sam Rosen is much more enjoyable to listen to. All in all, if you let the announcers influence how you watch a game, you're a joke.

i still cant get over the fact that ruutu gets punched 5 times in the back of the head, doesnt punch back, yet we end up shorthanded. steigy and bob say nothing about it. one of the worst calls ive ever seen.

doesn't matter if the puck got close to his stick, he still didn't have a "kicking motion". and he did attempt to reach the puck with his stick but his momentum was too much so it bounced off his angled skates. if that was crosby, it would have stood as a goal.

what's really annoying is that Atlanta PA guy. i noticed him the last time we were here(you know, when the girls couldnt skate 8 feet- yes, i just jobbed 10 yr old girls) and then the ASG and now i can't ignore him and he's incredibly freaking annoying. No Barbaro, that's for sure.

I hope no one debates starting Conklin tonight.

Frustrating game, for sure. sometimes you get the bounces and sometimes you don't. i dont think that they played bad. i've seen them play worse.

if nathan smith (according to steiggy, Capt'n of WB/S) was playing with Chara's twig...might have been a different story to the rest of the game....

for smiths sake...i hope he gets another chance to get NHL goal #1...but steigy just announced that beech has entered the U.S.of A so smith (Capt'n of WB/S) might be on the short end of the stick (just like his Pele goal)

What kind of premeditated screwjob was that Thrasher game?? From the screwing on the scheduling: Pens with no rest vs. Atl on a weeks rest and AllStar Hometown hype..to Rutuu made to look like a murderer, (did he even get his gloves off to warrant the 5 mnute fighting??) to the goal called off (I know I saw a much worse one allowed last night on the highlights..forget the game) to the blatantly ignored penalties to the imaginary ones called..wow that was a bad game. ...maybe the Thrashers win anyway..but that was THE worst called game all season. Was Danny Davis one of the refs? (if you get that one you are old and obsolete like me)

what is the most frusturating is that everyone knows we are better than the thrashers...when the pens lose without crosby it is just depressing...i keep waiting for him to make a wwe style run in but it never happens...i dunno..only 1 bad game from conk but I am calling for fleuryblog

I'm not too upset. We played Atlanta on even terms the entire night, but everything (including the striped baffoons) went against us. It was really heartening to see the first two lines trying so hard to get a goal in the last 10 minutes when all hope was gone. This team never gives up. Coming back home to face the Canes on Saturday, should be a good bounce back game, Cam Ward is a sieve on the road.

It was a Conklin...Conklin....Conklin...YOU SUCK chant. Not Malkin. I am a Thrashers fan, I was at the game tonight. The 8 fans in attendance yell that to every goalie. I can't stop them. I love this blog. I will say no more. Hope Kovy is ok though :(

i hate that the pens site runs a headline of 'Depleted Penguins fall to Thrashers in Atlanta' when last night it was 'Pens beat adversity, Devils.' its horseshit to make this team out as heroes when they win now but then cut them slack when they lose, cant have it both ways in my opinion. noone else in the league is going to cut us any fucking slack. it sucks terribly that so many big players are hurt, but we still have to win games, thats the bottom line. and a DEPLETED pens team should still beat the fucking thrashers

j: Thanks. It sounded like Malkin on the TV, and I seemed to notice it when he got the puck, but being in the barn is obviously the best evidence. It was lame either way.

... just as lame as "Believe in Blueland." Come on, marketing department - have another Starbucks. (Job Tip: kmlovespens.)

Dr turkelton: good catch.

deathbymu: British Bulldogs got screwed.

Mike Georger: I think the headlines are two sides of the same coin. By mentioning "adversity" in the win they are also alluding to the "depleted" nature of the team. It seems kind of consistent to me, but you're right that the team has to step up either way. As Staal pointed out in that intermission interview, it can't be used as an excuse. The team has to play the games. If they dwell on any empty seats in the dressing room they might as well book tee times in April.